A World Of Fragile Things
by Chibi Tidus
Summary: (Co-Written wPeeping Shadow Monkey) A rogue fayth is attempting to destroy Spira by conjuring the most powerful Aeon known. The fate of the world rests on the shoulders of four, two new faces and two old friends.
1. Chapter One: Opening

A World Of Fragile Things  
  
WinterLust05: hello there audience!  
  
Pit Munkie 101: WOOT!  
  
WinterLust05: well... yeah... this is our story  
  
Pit Munkie 101: WOOT  
  
WinterLust05: ... omfg, just stop u freak  
  
Pit Munkie 101: alrighty then  
  
WinterLust05: i'm trying to explain our story to the people!! our undying fans! our coffee in the morning! our sunshine!  
  
WinterLust05: . . .  
  
WinterLust05: o.O  
  
Pit Munkie 101: MY HAIR!  
  
WinterLust05: yeah, this is so not about that  
  
Pit Munkie 101: but it kind of is in a way. it's about baralai and gippal... and they all have hair!  
  
WinterLust05: yes, and i suppose that u are in it and have hair too...  
  
Pit Munkie 101: You betcha!  
  
WinterLust05: well i am in it too!   
  
Pit Munkie 101: but you have no hair!  
  
WinterLust05: I DO TOO HAVE HAIR U LITTLE BITCH! and i am the hot fan boi that gets gippal! ^_^ ... we can't drag this on forever  
  
Pit Munkie 101: OKIE DOKIE! *waves "I *Heart* Baralai sign"*  
  
WinterLust05: good, well then.. on with the story!  
  
The woods were oddly silent the day the pair strolled into it. They made their way through the twisted paths, revelling in the beauty of the eerie trees and shapes around them. Oddly enough this place brought a kind of peace to those who entered it. Sunlight sifted down through the canopy, and shadows ruled the majority of the forest, even in the day.   
  
Neither of them spoke, both thinking of other things.  
  
These wounds won't seem to heal  
  
This pain is just too real  
  
There's just too much that time cannot erase  
  
The song sifted through Meva's head. He could not remember where he had heard it, and it seemed now only like an echo from the depths of his mind. The words rang so much truth though, that he could not completely shake the verse from his mind. So much had happened to him, and to the world, in the past two years that everything still seemed crazy and out of place.  
  
Two years ago, he fell in love with someone, who meant so much to him. In the conflict that followed the defeat of Sin, he sided with the Youth League. In one of their many quarrels with New Yevon he died in combat. Meva himself had not taken part in any battles. No more wars, he only wanted peace. After his lover died he became a pacifist, shutting himself away within the confines of a coven in the ruined temple in the Calm Lands. There he learned much about himself.  
  
Once Yuna and the others saved the world from Shuyin and the dreaded Vegnagun, he came out of seclusion with his friend, who now walked at his right. He had met her in the Calm Lands as he was leaving. She was being hackled by the man at the shop in the center to marry his son. She felt sorry for the poor guy but could not help him, she tried telling the guy that she was in love, although she would not disclose as to whom her love was.  
  
Meva still did not really know, he did not like asking questions. He wanted people to only be happy, but secrets were not in his philosophy. They made do, telling each other what they felt they needed to share and keeping more of the private things inside, locked away deep down where no one could find them.  
  
Ever since they met they had travelled the world, searching for anything. Meva did not exactly want a grand adventure, he was just looking for some place, and some one, to settle down with, and he did not know exactly what his companion wanted.   
  
There had been no power struggle between them at any time, but they had had disagreements like all other friends. Still, she was not what he was looking for beyond that of a friend, and she still kept the mystery of who her lover was to herself. She would often sneak away to record a sphere and then have it sent to him. Meva had never really asked who it was, and he frankly did not care that much anymore. It used to nag him, but he figured that as long as she was happy that was enough.  
  
Across the world they have encountered fiends. Meva had begun to shun his pacifisctic ways and come out of his shell into the warrior he once was, but for the most part he acted as the residential white mage, healing and serving in other, non-violent ways.   
  
Dead leaves cracked underfoot as he walked the path, unaware of the dangers that lay ahead.  
  
*~~*~~*  
  
The caravan was in ruins. Guards lay scattered around. Baralai tried to get up from the wreckage of his cart, but the weight that pressed down on him was too much.   
  
"Nooj! Gippal!" He cried, but there did not seem to be anyone around. The sounds of battle was now far off. Black creeped in the corner of his vision. He looked out into the woods, spying the crystal leaves and trunks of the trees that now seemed dull. He was fading, and fading quickly.  
  
"Help... me..." he whispered.  
  
Feet appeared out of the trees. "Not yet," a voice said softly, menacingly. He saw a robed figure step out from the trees. "Everything has a time, and mine is here."  
  
The feet started moving closer to him as he blacked out. 


	2. Chapter Two: Surprise and Torture

Chapter 2  
  
Written by Peeping Shadow Monkey  
  
"Hehe, I'm beginning to fear that my messages aren't finding their way to you at all, kiddo . . ." The girl paused and smiled, a gentle tugging at the corners of her mouth. "Don't worry, though. It doesn't bother me – our lives are so different. I understand that you don't have much room for anything but business work and the like." Another pause, this time her eyes found the ground interesting. "So, I think it's best to let go. I've been clinging to this lost memory of you for so long, and it's time to set it free. 'Memories are nice, but that's all they are' as my mother used to say, huh?" Her lips twitched slightly, and she fought back the urge to show any sign of the oncoming tears. "So goodbye, kiddo. Always remember that I love you."  
  
  
  
With a heavy sigh, the girl clicked the sphere off and sat cradling it in her hands, eyes softening with tears threatening to fall.  
  
  
  
"Noli! Noli? Where'd you go?" Meva's eyes scanned the sparkling darkness until he spotted a figure hunched on a boulder, silhouetted by the luminescence of the forest, seemingly unaffected by the ghost of his voice echoing through the stillness.  
  
  
  
The shoulder of the shadow wracked in violent shudders, and sobs muffled by dense foliage floated to him on the slight breeze. "Noli, if you want to eat, now's your chance."  
  
  
  
Casual conversation, of course. Always.  
  
  
  
Meva's ears detected a slight rustling sound as Noli stood, probably the knapsack she always had slung across her shoulder. Crunching footsteps, and suddenly the girl was there, lowering herself to a seated position next to him.  
  
  
  
"What were you doing over there?" Noli's eyes turned to glare at him, her usually warm and joyful eyes now icy and distant. Whoops, wrong question. Definitely the wrong question.  
  
  
  
Meva should have known better. The two friends had developed an unspoken treaty between them during the short time they'd known one another. This specifically forbade prying into each other's business. A person's business was theirs to deal with, and if they wished to share, fine. If not, it was best to leave it be. This convenient little truce ensured both of them would continue along their journey with a few less battle scars. But honestly, Meva couldn't have helped himself. Sometimes curiosity easily overrules respect.  
  
  
  
"Saying goodbye."  
  
  
  
The bluntness of her statement left him confused and just a tad uncomfortable. Goodbye? To whom? And why?  
  
  
  
Noli then stood again swiftly, yanking her khaki knapsack over her shoulder and digging through it. When her hand reappeared, an orange sphere was resting on the palm, a soft, warm glow illuminating the darkness surrounding it. Without another word, the slender girl moved towards the lake, a breeze, light and fresh, caressing her face and sweeping her hair from her shoulders.  
  
  
  
Noli stopped at the edge of the dark water and, after placing a light kiss on the sphere's surface, hurled it into the waiting darkness. A heavy, almost comical plopping sound shattered the forest's silence. The orange glow seemed to float listlessly just below the surface of the water before being swallowed by the inky blackness of the lake. Ripples radiated from where the water was disturbed, spreading across the surface in ever-growing circles.   
  
  
  
Noli only stared blankly into the dark. Meva waited patiently.  
  
*~~*~~*  
  
  
  
Baralai couldn't see. There was nothing but darkness, and he was enveloped in it, tangled in a substance he couldn't escape. He tried to cry out, to yell for his friends, but no sound came out. His mouth was so dry that it could have easily been mistaken for the Bikanel Desert. Maybe.  
  
  
  
Sound penetrated his darkness. Echoing, distant, but still there. A voice. No, wait, several voices. Two of them sounded familiar, but in the darkness, the voices were distorted, coming to him in bits and pieces.  
  
  
  
"No, don't! Leave him alone!" Baralai flinched as the voice reached his ears loud and clear. Familiar. Nooj. "Please, no more!" The desperation in his friend's voice triggered a shudder that ran laps down his spine.  
  
  
  
Someone was in trouble, but who?  
  
  
  
Fear clutching at his heart, Baralai wrenched free of the darkness ensnaring him. With an almost painful gasp, his eyes flew open and were met with the sight of Nooj. The white-haired man attempted a smile, but it died when his eyes found Gippal, bruised and broken, lying motionless on the cold stone floor. A man, features nearly indiscernible in the gloom, loomed over his broken friend, and in his hand was a whip, the end dripping black.  
  
  
  
So that was why Nooj sounded so desperate. The older man rarely ever lost his cool - it would take something big to scare it out of him.  
  
  
  
Panic this time took a firm hold on his heart. "No, leave Gippal alone!"   
  
  
  
Baralai's own voice sounded strange to him. Blood roared in his ears as he fought to push himself up, to help his friend, but his muscles screamed in protest and agony. With a painful wrenching, Baralai collapsed heavily back onto the dungeon floor.  
  
  
  
A laugh almost as evil and insane as Shuyin's escaped from the man's mouth, bounced off of the damp walls and connected with Baralai's ears, making him flinch. "Yous guys ain't no fun." With a snicker, he reached down and grabbed Gippal by the back of the neck, hoisting him into the air with a grunt. Blood from his many wounds dripped in small rivers down his bare back.  
  
  
  
"Please . . ." Tears were beginning to form in Baralai's eyes.  
  
  
  
"Fine then." The man tossed Gippal's limp body to the ground, a dull heavy thud echoing about the room as it hit. "Better catch your breath, ladies. I'll be back." With that, he threw open the cell door, seemed to skip out, and slammed the door back into place.  
  
  
  
"Gippal . . ." Baralai's body was so sore. He could hardly reach out to touch his friend, who still lay prone just inches from him. "Please be alright . . ."  
  
*~~*~~*  
  
  
  
"Meva, this doesn't look good." Noli stood just off to his right rubbing the skin left bare by her low-slung grey shorts, fingers gingerly tracing over the indigo, six-pointed star tattooed there. It was kind of like a twitch with her, he'd noticed; she did that when she was scared or nervous. But never when she was angry. Noli would sooner draw her revolver and shoot you in the face than waste time doing that.  
  
  
  
Meva inhaled deeply, massaging his eyes with one hand. The caravan, or what was left of it, lay crippled in the middle of the path on which they walked, looking dark and forbidding in the forest's glow. Bodies lay scattered about everywhere, all clad in Bevelle's standard issue armor. All of their rifles had been drawn, but now lay in the slack hands of their owners. Blood stained the dirt around them black. There had been a massacre here.  
  
  
  
"You're right, we should get out of here," he whispered, kneeling by one of the bodies. He was young, no older than the age of twenty. Meva noticed a ring adorning the third finger on his hand and looked away, tears clouded his eyes. "See if there's anything we can use. Be quick. We need to leave this place."  
  
  
  
Noli nodded, her pale face bobbing in the dimness. She scampered over to the edge of a wagon and hopped up, her feet scraping dully against the wood. In a second she had disappeared, searching swiftly for anything important. Meva got to his feet, glancing from one body to the next. They had heavy firepower . . . What could have happened here?  
  
  
  
The man suddenly felt an offending presence surround him, and spun to meet nothing at all, his shaggy blond hair swinging into his eyes. The aura was a dark one, that Meva knew immediately. "Noli, now! We need to –"  
  
  
  
Meva's voice was cut off suddenly. Noli, who had hopped out of the shattered wagon, gasped in horror and ran to him. With a grunt, she flipped his body over from where it had fallen and sat cradling him, searching around her frantically.  
  
"Foolish little girl . . ." The voice came from nowhere and everywhere at the same time and this terrified Noli. If she didn't know where it was coming from, she had no chance of fighting whoever or whatever it was.  
  
  
  
A sharp crack sounded behind her and she spun, yanking Meva's body with hers. All she saw was a looming shadow and then nothing.  
  
  
  
"You'll both be perfect . . ." 


	3. Chapter Three: Jail Time

Chapter Three: Jail Time  
  
A/N: This chapter is brought to you by Yaoi Boi! I am in the midst of a million writing projects and am taking time out of my busy schedule to write the next chapter of this. Hurrah!  
  
When Meva awoke he felt cold. Partly was because there were some new rips in his clothes and damp air blew over his pale skin, and partly because his face was pressed to a cold stone floor. His eyes opened and he saw his breath puffing out in front of him, a fine mist eminating from his lips. He lifted his head off the floor an inch or two just so he could look around and sharp pain sprang forth, starting where his neck met his head and rocketing to the front of his skull.  
  
Wincing at the pain but ready to endure it, he turned his head slowly, needing to see where he was, just what he and Noli had gotten themselves into. It was dark, with only a little light coming from outside of their prison cell and down the hall.  
  
Just a second... his eyes scrolled back to the front of the room. Bars? Prison cell? Where the hell were they?  
  
Noli was laying, not moving, on a cot against the wall. He rose to his hands and knees, and crawled over to her. It was difficult to ignore all the pain shooting up and down the entire length of his body, but he did what he had to do. What did whoever put him here do to him? Drag him from the wreck of a ruined caravan all the way to wherever the hell he was now? Smooth.  
  
He remembered seeing the dead bodies, the ruined wagons. But his mind failed him when he tried to recall the last few seconds before he passed out. He knew that someone had been there, someone had said something, but what the words were eluded him.  
  
Pressing one hand to Noli's neck, he took a quick check. She was alive, just asleep. He slumped back to the ground. Relief swirled around him. Thank Yevon, he thought. Thank you, Yevon.  
  
~*~*~  
  
Baralai woke up, and he was still in the torture room. He did not know why they were there, not really. They had not been asked one question, and he had thought that they did not have any enemies. Obviously they were dead wrong. Dead. Wrong.  
  
It was quiet in the room. He feared the silence, thinking that maybe he was deaf, maybe that he was actually dead and this was one of those dreams, just like a story. Maybe the torturer was playing with him, making him think that he was going to get away, right before he came in for the kill. He rose from his spot on the floor slowly, trying to push the worst-case scenarios out of his mind. The three of them: Gippal, Nooj, and himself have been tortured before, they would survive this. Whatever this was for...  
  
Laughter jumped at him from the shadows to his right. A weak yelp escaped his throat before he could sotp himself. Don't give them power, he thought. Don't do that! The room was dark, and he could only see outlines of tables and racks holding various methods of torment. He thought about going and getting himself a weapon, then decided that might not be the best idea. If he got caught just trying to escape, then he might be allowed to live, but he knew this. This was the work of a madman, and if he was caught trying to escape and he had a weapon in his hands, that would be the end of him.  
  
"Gippal...?" he whispered, needing to find at least one of his friends. They were here earlier! "Nooj...?"  
  
A light appeared behind him, making his skin crawl. In the deepest corners of the room he thought he could hear faint circus music. What the hell was going on? He told himself to not turn around, to not see what the demented person who set this up wanted him to see. There were times when it was better if he was left in the dark, and he wanted this to be one of those times.  
  
"Turn around boy, or I'll SHOW you what I did to him," can the creepy voice of the torturer, from somewhere in one of the shadows. It did not help at all with trying to tell where he was.  
  
Squeezing his eyes shut, Baralai slowly turned around until he was standing with his shoulders squared in the direction of the light. He peeked one eye open, and then the other one flew open and he had to choke back a sob. Bile rose in his throat as he laid his gaze on the figure on the wall.  
  
It was Nooj. He was naked, and his body was covered in drying blood. There was no doubt about it, he was really dead. His head held a bright, mad grin that creeped Baralai out to no end, and in the center of his forehead was the tip of a pike, the pike that was holding his head in place on the wall. His body was pulled taught, with his arms spread out to each side, and his legs straight down, by a chain. The chain was pulled so tight on his body that it had cut into his skin, breaking it and let the blood flow. There were grotesque markings all over his body, and his eyes were blank. Completely hollow. Baralai knew that that smile on his friend's cold, dead face would haunt him in his nightmares until the day he died.  
  
"Oh shit..." came a soft voice from behind him: Gippal. Baralai turned to face him, but he could only see his friend's outline in the dim.  
  
"Gippal..." Baralai's voice was weak, very weak. He leaned over and vomitted then, and soon Gippal was joining him.  
  
"He was alive up until the very end, when I drove his head backwards," came the weird voice behind them. They knew where he was now, but only because the man wanted them to, and they could not do anything to him. "Some o' my best work, 'f I dun say so m'self."  
  
"You sick bastard," Gippal gasped out between heaves.  
  
"Watch your tongue, child. You may ver' well be next!"  
  
Gippal looked up at Baralai, and there was such defeat, such sorrow, in his eyes that Baralai thought he could faint right then and there. "I'm... sorry..." he said.  
  
It broke Baralai's heart to see this...  
  
~*~*~  
  
Noli awoke to find Meva collapsed next to the cot. He needed sleep, he needed the time to heal. It was for the best, she thought, sitting up. They thought he was the threat, but he was only the white mage. Stupid chauvanistic bastards, asigning the basic gender roles. That kind of made her mad, and she really did not want to watch Meva get beaten up like he did as they brought them back here, but she thought that it was better if at least one of them was only mildly hurt. He would understand.  
  
She did what she had to do. That's acceptable, right?  
  
Footsteps started moving down the hallways, growing louder and louder with each step. They were coming to her cell, she knew. And she thought she knew who it was, the man in the hood. Of course, the bad guy ALWAYS had to hide himself, at least at first.  
  
Stupid bad guys!  
  
Then he appeared right outside her cell. "Wake the male up," he said. "I have to talk to you both. I will be back in five minutes. Be ready or be prepared to face your punishment."  
  
Then he was gone. 


End file.
